Uninsured Drivers, a Major Cause For Worry

UK’s insurance industry is currently suffering major problems due to the number of uninsured drivers that are loose on the roads. So much so, that the industry is being forced to pay expenses amounting to £500 million per year by the way of damages to compensate for their activities.

According to a recent survey held by MoneySupermarket.com, uninsured drivers on the streets of Britain are costing the car insurance industry around £500 million annually. This amounts to £30 to every person’s car insurance premium on an average. These are sorry figures indeed, especially while policyholders’ are already bearing the brunt of whiplash claims and the dreaded compensation culture that presently haunts Britain’s insurance industry.

The same survey reports that one in six drivers in the UK violate laws by driving cars they aren’t insured to operate. According to this report, Eight percent of those surveyed confessed to driving their own car without necessary insurance, whereas another six per cent admitted to having driven somebody else’s vehicle without proper car insurance.

Also, a further two per cent claimed that they had continued driving their vehicle even as they were between successive car insurance cover. Strangely, about one in five uninsured drivers also said that they weren’t aware that car insurance was necessary to drive a vehicle.

Pete Harrison, a premier car insurance comparison site’s expert, had this to say on the matter: “Should you be involved in a crash when not insured, you could face thousands of pounds in liability, a conviction, including six points on your license, as well as fines up to £5,000.”

These are stern measures enacted to deter UK motorists, especially the younger drivers, from ignoring car insurance before getting behind the wheel of their car. Since the younger drivers in the country are the ones most likely to take risks such as driving uninsured, these laws have been designed primarily to keep them in check. Even the insurers are quite wary of young motorists that come to seek car insurance policies, quoting them higher rates than other applicants who are older.

Young car drivers have also complained of being caught between a rock and a hard place, since expensive premiums which they can’t afford drive many to use their vehicles without proper insurance cover. Even those who compare car insurance have not called themselves completely satisfied by the slim decrease in the prices.

The research stated that younger drivers were the biggest risk takers, with an estimated 29 per cent of those in the 18-34 age group confessing to driving cars without insurance cover. This was in sharp contrast to the 6 per cent offenders polled who were above the age of 55.

Finally, the research also suggested that women were half as likely to be tempted to drive without insurance as their male counterparts.